Thalassinoides | |
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Thalassinoides, burrows produced by thalassinideans, from the Middle Jurassic, Makhtesh Qatan, southern Israel | |
Trace fossil classification | |
Ichnogenus: | Thalassinoides Ehrenberg, 1944 |
Thalassinoides is an ichnogenus of trace fossil, also known as Ophiomorpha, Teichichnus, Gyrolithes and Spongeliomorpha.[1] Thalassinoides is used to refer to "dichotomously or T-branched boxworks, mazes and shafts, unlined and unornmented",[2]:179 and facies of Thalassinoides increased suddenly in abundance at the beginning of the Mesozoic.[2]:251 Such burrows are made by a number of organisms, including the sea anemone Cerianthus, Balanoglossus and fishes, but are most closely associated with decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Thalassinidea.[3]